


Manipulation and Misunderstanding

by halflightwrites



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Bisexual Jason Grace, First Kiss, Friends With Benefits, Jason Grace is a Good Friend, M/M, Nico di Angelo is Bad at Feelings, Past Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 03:06:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16547645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halflightwrites/pseuds/halflightwrites
Summary: Or the one where Will walks in on Nico and Jason, and Nico internally panics for days.





	Manipulation and Misunderstanding

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who's being manipulated?

When Will Solace walks into the Hades cabin—without knocking, Nico might add—to see Nico half-straddling Jason, one hand shoved down Jason’s open jeans, the first thing Nico thinks is _how did I get in this situation?_ , the second is _oh, shit._

Will immediately freezes. The door stands wide open behind him, and Nico thanks whatever gods may be listening for the fact that no other campers pass by at that moment. The afternoon light pours around Will from outside, onto Nico and Jason on the bed—also frozen, Nico’s hand still wrapped around Jason in his pants—as if they needed any more of a spotlight. 

Nico’s brain feels like it’s two steps behind the situation. Jason looks equally shocked and annoyed, as if he’s begun to process what the fuck is happening, and instead of being mortified, is simply upset that Will has interrupted them.

Will looks distressed. That’s the only word that comes to Nico’s mind. He knows Will well enough to know that not much gets to the other boy, and if something does, Will is good at hiding it. But right now, his emotions are spilled across his face.

It’s only a moment, a gut-wrenching few seconds for Nico, that the three of them are frozen, watching each other. Then, Will says, “Oh, you’re busy. Sorry.” And leaves.

It’s another moment before Nico feels like he can move. He takes his hand out of Jason’s jeans and climbs off of him. His body feels like it belongs to someone else, like for a dizzying second he is watching himself from outside of it. Like this whole situation is just some strange dream or memory, and it’s not really happening to him right now.

Jason falls back onto the bed beside him and says, “Well, that was awkward.” 

Later, Nico will recognize the undertone of concern in his words.

But right now, all Nico can feel is that dark urge to melt into the shadows and disappear.

 

It happened like this:

Nico opened the door something like seven months ago to find Piper, a small smile on her face that had seemed both genuine and forced. Nico glared, because she had woken him up and because, last he had checked, Piper still wasn’t happy about Jason disappearing the day before to shadow-travel with Nico to Coney Island. Her smile turned sheepish.

The last thing he expected her to say was, “I broke up with Jason.” 

Except, he also wasn't surprised. They were good together, and it was obvious to Nico that they loved each other, but in the two years since the war, that love had sort of stagnated. Nico remembered a few weeks back, when Jason told him he was scared the relationship had become a routine more than anything. 

Nico stopped glaring, only because it took more effort than he wanted to give. He said, “Okay.” 

Piper had looked almost grateful, then. As if she had expected Nico to put up a fight, defend Jason to her and insist that she go un-break up with him, and now that he clearly wasn’t going to do that, she could relax. He wished people would stop misjudging him. He might not know how to talk to people quite like a normal person, but he had come to understand people a lot more than others gave him credit for.

Piper began picking at the skin on her cuticle, and Nico noticed for the first time how tired she looked. “Can you check on him, please?” She asked, except the way she said it wasn’t a question. Nico didn’t think she was charm-speaking him, and even if she was, he’s not sure it would even work on him, anyways. But still, it was less of a request and more of a demand. 

“Okay.” He said again, for lack of anything better to say. 

He liked Piper, really. But he had just woken up and he wasn’t sure if this was the point after a friend’s break up where he’s supposed to draw a line in the sand and side with Jason, or if he will even have to do that. Gods, he hoped not. Fleetingly, he wondered how their friend group would divide if it came to that. Would Percy side with Jason, or would Annabeth choose Piper and Percy would side with them by default? What about Leo? Leo had technically known Piper longer than Jason, but he and Jason had a closer relationship simply because they were ‘bros’ and had more in common. Maybe this would be the thing that finally ruined it, and everyone would just stop talking to each other and Nico would go back to having no friends at all. 

Nico realized Piper was still standing there, looking at him. He thought to ask, “Are you okay?” He might not be good with people, but he does still care about his friends, even if he’s not always great at showing it.

Piper gave him another grateful smile. “I’ll be fine. Thanks, Nico.”

 

Jason had not looked fine when he opened the door. 

He disappeared back into his cabin, leaving the door open for Nico to follow. Nico stepped inside to find him face-down on his bed, arms at his sides and face flat in the mattress, as if he couldn’t be bothered to care about breathing. Nico asked, “Are you okay?” which was probably a stupid question.

“Fine,” Jason said into the mattress, or at least that’s what Nico heard. Nico sat beside him, legs crossed on the bed, and placed one hand firmly on the back of Jason’s head. Then he pushed down, hard.

He didn’t let up until Jason whined, then he rolled over to face Nico. Without his glasses on, Jason looked younger, and exposed. “Did she tell you?” 

“Yeah. She asked me to come check on you.” 

“That was nice of her,” Jason said, but there was no malice in it. 

Nico ran his thumb under the hem of his jeans. “What did she say?”

Jason sighed. He lifted both arms and, with his fingers, made air quotes in front of Nico’s face. “We’ve grown apart. We can’t go on like this. I know we’re not unhappy, but we’re not happy either. This isn’t good for either of us. You know I’m right.” 

Nico snorted, and Jason turned his head on the bed to glare at him. “She said that?” 

“No, but she definitely implied it.”

“She is right,” Nico said, ignoring the second glare Jason shoots him.

After a moment, Jason said, “I know. But I didn’t want to know.” Nico nodded, he understood that. He had never been in a relationship, but he could imagine it would be hard to leave one, even if it wasn’t working anymore. After being alone for so long, Nico didn’t want to consider having to leave anyone ever again. The thought put a hollow spot in his mind.

Jason covered his face with his arms, and for a minute Nico thought he was crying. But when Jason put his arms back down, his eyes were clear and his face was dry. He looked sad, not in a heartbroken way, more just a resigned sadness. Jason had known this was coming, Nico suspected he had just wanted to hold out a while longer.

Jason sat up, his jean-covered thigh brushed against Nico’s bare foot. “I don’t know what to do now.” He didn’t sound miserable, or angry. Just lost.

“We could nap,” Nico offered. Jason turned his head to throw him his third glare in ten minutes. For a moment Nico was proud of how well Jason had adapted to his friendship, but then Nico realized how close their faces were. Jason was still glaring, a bit awkwardly if Nico had any criticism, but he seemed to realize how close they were too. 

Then, Jason asked, “Can I kiss you?”

Nico was awake enough to say, “ _What_?” instead of doing something less dignified, like punching Jason, or kissing him.

Jason’s glare turned into a somewhat maniacal grin. “Is that a no?” He asked, and his voice was light, teasing almost. Nico wasn’t awake enough to understand it.

Later, he would think about how calm he was in that moment. How he hadn’t felt anxious or nervous or embarrassed. He thinks part of it was probably because it was Jason, and Nico trusts Jason. He thinks it was also because it didn’t matter. It was _Jason._ Nico had this quiet assurance in his mind that if he said no, they would be fine. He could tell Jason wasn’t asking to be mean, even if this was a joke. And if it wasn’t? If Jason was serious and Nico said yes—

“Why would you?” Nico asked. 

Jason shrugged, good naturedly. “I don’t want to think right now,” He said, and, seeing Nico about to argue, added, “It’s not a rebound, or a game, or whatever. I’m not asking to use you as a distraction. You’re my best friend, Nico. And I like kissing. And maybe sometimes I think about kissing you.” His lips turned up again at the last part, and he gave Nico a sideways look. _Your choice._

But there was no weight to it. Nico could push him away, laugh and suggest something else to get Jason’s mind off the break up. Jason would laugh too, say _your loss_ , because he has just as big an ego as Percy. Or Nico could agree.

Nico thought about it, and Jason let him. If Nico let Jason kiss him—his first kiss, and Nico assumed it would be Jason’s first kiss with another boy—what would happen? Probably nothing. It might be a one off thing, and then Nico would have had his first kiss with his best friend, not that bad a deal. Or they could keep kissing, and?

Nico didn’t have feelings for Jason, but he didn’t really mind the thought of kissing him either. Jason was handsome and warm and Nico felt comfortable with him. 

“Okay,” Nico said, for the third time in one hour.

Jason’s smile turned sheepish, but he dipped his chin in a little nod. “Really?”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Really,” He said, and it was light, teasing.

Jason leaned over and kissed him. And it was fine. It was nice, really.

So Nico leaned in and they kissed again.

Somehow, by dinner, they had done a lot more than kiss.

 

It wasn’t anything really. Nico liked fucking around with Jason. It was nice, a sort of easy stress relief for both of them, and if neither of them were stressed, then it was still nice to just get off. They didn’t do it all the time, but they did it often enough that it became normal. Nico didn’t really think about it too much.

Except that he thought about it a lot. It was fine, and Nico liked it, but there was one huge problem.

Nico also liked Will Solace. _Like_ , being an understatement.

Nico somehow hadn’t managed to shake Will since that surprise conversation on Half-Blood Hill nearly three years ago. He wasn’t trying to shake Will, but it seemed like no matter what Nico did, or _didn’t_ do—he admits he wasn’t great at the whole ‘friendship’ thing in the beginning, or ever—Will still wanted to be his friend. For reasons Nico couldn’t understand, the son of Apollo liked being around him. He had watched Nico let Octavian die, had listened to Nico talk about the Underworld, and Tartarus, and the shadows. He had helped Nico solve the problems that came with shadow-traveling, had comforted him when Nico had nightmares, had taken the time to learn Nico’s favorite things, his moods and his fears and his quirks.

And he was still Nico’s friend. The problem was that Nico wanted more than friendship.

No, the problem was that Nico had forgotten to mention that he was gay. And he had no idea how Will would feel about it. And then Will had walked in on Nico with his hand down Jason’s pants, and the only thing Will had said was, “ _Oh, you’re busy.”_

Gods, sometimes Nico hated being a person.

He didn’t go find Will after he kicked Jason out of his cabin. Part of him wanted to, and part of him wanted to cut his losses and start mourning the friendship. Instead he took a nap, like he does every time he’s stressed, unless he’s fucking around with Jason. _Gods_.

When he wakes up he just lies in bed and stares at the ceiling. It’s getting dark, and Nico knows if he doesn’t show up for dinner someone will come looking for him, but he doesn’t want to move. He thinks he probably really fucked this one up, but then he hears Hazel’s voice in his head telling him he’s being dramatic. She’s probably right.

But still. This isn’t how he wanted Will to find out. Nico would have preferred it if no one ever saw him with his hand down Jason Grace’s pants. Especially not Will. 

Nico turns over and tries not to let himself cry. He’s embarrassed. But more than that, he’s mortified. He feels fourteen again, the grass dying around his feet as Cupid makes him admit his stupid crush on Percy in front of Jason. As if his life wasn’t bad enough. Nico had survived Bianca’s death, and Tartarus, and being imprisoned, but being forced to confess his feelings—feelings he’d buried and denied and been ashamed of for _years_ —that was just the icing on the whole goddamn cake. 

Will had told him once, after a particularly bad night a little after the war, when everything still felt a little too close and a little too real, and Nico couldn’t get far enough away from it, but he’d promised to stay at camp, and Nico kept his promises, that everything Nico had been through had only made him stronger. That he was a better person for all of it. Nico still isn’t sure he agrees, and even if it’s true, it’s not like he’s grateful for any of it.

Nico thinks he would still trade all of it for a chance to go back, but then he thinks about losing what he has now and reconsiders. He likes where he is now. Even if Camp isn’t always great and the Gods aren’t always in agreement with Nico’s desire for them to stop being ridiculous, he likes his life. He loves his friends, and he’s not on bad terms with his father, and on good days, which are most days now, he’s happy. 

Nico hopes he didn’t just ruin it.

Jason looks up from his plate when Nico sits down across from him at dinner. He raises an eyebrow but wisely remains silent.

Nico doesn’t say anything. He eats and stays quiet and does not look over at the Apollo table. He doesn’t have to, Will isn’t there. Nico had checked when he’d first sat down.

Jason offers him a shy smile when Nico falls in beside him on his way to the campfire. Nico doesn’t return it, but he gives Jason a look that he hopes comes across as, _it’s okay, it’s not your fault._

Leo and Piper find them soon after, and Nico listens as Leo tells him about some type of remote controlled drone he’s designing to guarantee their next capture the flag win. “And it can shoot lasers as well as celestial bronze spiders, I got that idea from Annabeth after she told me about her dad.” Nico doesn’t ask what Annabeth’s dad has to do with celestial bronze spiders, he just nods. Leo looks a little suspicious that Nico is being so compliant, but he doesn’t mention it, and Nico is thankful.

Nico grips his arms and watches the flames as the Apollo campers start the sing-a-long. When Will doesn’t show, Nico is almost relieved.

 

It takes another three days before Nico’s shame and guilt morphs into anger. He supposes old habits die hard.

Will had shown up to dinner and the campfire the past two nights, but he hadn’t met Nico’s eyes.

Nico thinks he should probably find Jason. Maybe Iris-message Hazel or Reyna, hell, even Percy. He should find someone who will tell him not to go lash out at Will. On second thought, Percy probably wouldn’t be much help. He’d have offered to do it for Nico.

Nico knows he shouldn’t do this, knows it will only make the situation worse. But there’s a biting anger in his throat, pulling at his teeth and jaw and heart that blurs any sense he may have had. Nico is good at anger. He knows how to wear it, how to make it useful and keep it going. It feels heavy and unwelcome now, after so long without it. But it’s still familiar. It’s still a part of him. 

He is good at anger, at fighting, and running. But he promised not to run anymore. 

Nico finds Will in the infirmary, blond hair falling into his face as he cleans. Nico watches for a moment in the shadows of the doorway. The place is empty, less visited in the winter with less campers to get, and cause, injuries. Will wipes down the counters in swift, hard movements. The tension in his body is obvious, even from across the room and Nico wonders if Will even notices how tightly he’s coiled.

Nico swallows hard, unsure. Will _hates_ cleaning. But he likes feeling useful. When he’s anxious, or angry, he needs to have something to do. 

Will looks up sharply when Nico steps into the room, and Nico almost stops. There’s something in Will’s eyes, in the set of his mouth and the hard lines of his shoulders. Nico recognizes anger, but it’s more. It’s hate.

Nico wants to dissolve. He wants to scream and cry and tell Will he hates him, the way he’d done at ten years old to Percy. He wants to tell Will he doesn’t deserve this. That Nico had done nothing wrong.

What comes out instead is, “I’m sorry.”

Nico immediately wants to take it back.

Will doesn’t say anything for a long moment, but that tension in him seems to settle, just a fraction. Nico’s anger returns.

“For what?” Will asks, and there’s nothing in his voice to clue Nico in.

Nico folds his arms across his chest and holds Will’s eyes. “I didn’t want you to find out like that, but it’s your fault for not knocking, and you can hate me all you want, I don’t care.” _Gods_ , does he. He doesn’t stop. “You’re entitled to your own opinion, even if it’s stupid and wrong. And I’m not going to apologize for, for being who I am. Even if you think it’s disgusting—”

Nico is going to keep going, there’s a lot more that starts to build at the back of his throat. So many years of forcing it down, that now all he wants to do is throw it in Will’s face, but Will cuts him off.

“What?” He says, and it sounds like a curse. Like all of his anger is tangible in that one word. Nico stops talking and stares at him. 

Nico forces himself to glare, but it feels contrived and silly on his face. “You’re disgusted—”

Will cuts him off again. “Are you serious? Gods, Nico. How could you even think that? I’m not disgusted. I’m _jealous_!”

Jealous? Oh, _oh_. There’s a small voice in the back of Nico’s head that is laughing at him. It’s probably his dad. Or maybe Nico is just laughing at himself. Because suddenly this situation seems very funny in a not very funny way. 

Jason always tells him not to put his own feelings on others. _Just because you don’t like yourself, doesn’t mean other people don’t like you._

Nico sits down hard on the nearest bed. He tucks his folded arms against him and brings his head down to his knees. It’s a moment before he realizes he’s laughing. He kind of thought he’d been choking, he felt so breathless.

When he stops, Will is watching him. He looks worried, but Nico recognizes the amusement in his features. Gods, how could he have been so stupid.

Finally, he thinks to say, “What?”

Will sits on the bed opposite him. “I like you, idiot. A lot.” Will gives him a shy smile and Nico feels immediately better. Whatever this is between them, he hasn’t fucked it up. 

Nico thinks maybe this is fine. In a few weeks, he might be able to laugh about this without feeling embarrassed. If nothing else, Jason will get a kick out of it.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you, but I wasn’t sure if you … I didn’t know. And then, you and Jason. That’s great, I guess.”

“Is it?” Nico asks, his lips curling into a smirk. Will deflates a little. Nico forgets sometimes how much Will puts on a face. 

“No,” Will says, honest.

Nico rolls his eyes. “Good thing we’re not then.”

It’s Will’s turn to ask, “What?” He sounds anxious and hopeful and Nico wants to kiss him.

“Jason and I aren’t together. We’re just friends. We just,” He brings a hand to his face and bites the bullet. “We just fuck around sometimes. It’s not anything.”

Will says, “Oh.” 

Nico can hear the apology in it. They’re both idiots.

“Yeah.” 

“Can I kiss you, then?” Nico wants to say yes, but he doesn’t trust himself not to say something stupid, like _I love you._

Nico nods.

Will crosses the space between them and leans over him. Nico is used to looking up to him, but this is different. This is something new and exciting, but Will is familiar. When he bends down, Nico unfolds himself and meets him. And they kiss.

They kiss and it’s everything and nothing like when Nico kissed Jason. It’s the same in every way, except it’s _Will_. And it’s so much better. 

When Will pulls away, Nico can see the uncertainty on his face. He reaches out to pull him back, but Will is looking at the door.

Nico turns around. Jason stands there.

“Sorry, I uh, see you’re busy.” Jason doesn’t sound sorry at all.

Nico can’t help it. He snorts, and it turns into a real laugh. Jason puts back on that maniacal grin, flashes them two thumbs up, and turns to leave.

Will starts to say something, and Nico knows they’ll have to talk about this, all of it, but right now the last thing he wants to do is talk. Nico gets his fingers in the fabric of Will’s shirt and pulls him back down. 

Will swallows his laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> It's Jason('s dick)!


End file.
